Winding up of spring-driven devices



March 25, 1930. G JOHNSON 1,752,181

WINDING-UP OF SPRING DRIVEN DEVICES Filed Dec. 11 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 25, 1930. N. G. JOHNSON I 1,752,181

WINDING-UP OF SPRING DRIVEN DEVICES Filed Dec. 11, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllllllll gab-11:6 7

Patented Mar. 25, 1930 PATENT:

NEVILLE GEORGE JOHNSON, OF HOVE, ENGLAND WINDING U]? or SEEING-DRIVEN nnvrons Application filed December 11, 1928, Serial No. 325,279, and in Great Britain January 4, 1928.

This invention relates to the winding up of the driving spring of talking machines and other spring-driven devices, the object of the invention being to provide improved. means for automatically winding up -the driving motor, automatically to release a spring-controlled member by the time a record has been completely played, which member closes the circuit of an electric motor, the said circuit being maintained closed by a time element for a predetermined period of time, whenit is au- 7 tomatically opened.

The invention consists in causing he resistance of the spring to its being further wound up to efiect a mechanical displacement in the transmission gear between the electric motor and the spring when the latter isnear- 1y wound up and thereby. mechanically disconnect the electric motor from the winding gear of the spring.

The invention also consists'in causing the i switch :of the electric motor to be automaticali vision of means for automatically locking the ly opened immediately upon the automatic disconnection between the the spring motor.

o The invention further consists in the prospring motor immediately after its winding gear has been disconnected from the electrlc.

motor.

A further feature of'the invention consists in the special combination of parts for open-- ing the switch-of'the electric motorand for.

locking the spring motor. after theelectric motor'and the sprlng' motor have beenautomatically disconnected.

A still further feature of the inventionconsists in the. special'construction of the means controlling the closing of the switch.

' of the electric motor.

The inventionalso consists in the improved arrangement and construction. of the means for Winding up the driving spring of talk; ing machines and other sprlng-driven dev ces electric motor and spring drive.

by means of an electric motor as hereinafter more particularly descrlbed. 7

One mode of carrying the lnvention'into effect is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying'drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows in elevation the general arrangement of the electric winding up of the spring and of the means for automatically opening and closing the switch at the required moments. 1 v i Figure 2 shows in side elevation as seen'in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 1, the engagement between the coupling and the switching mechanism.

Figure 3 shows in side elevation, as seen in the direction of the arrow B in Fig. 1, the part of the switching mechanism which controls the opening of the switch, 1

Figure 4 is, a section along the line 4.4 in Figure 3'seen in the direction of the arrow D while Fig. 5 is a section along the line 5-7-5 in Fig. 1. V Referring to the drawings, a is the electric motor, 7) a'gear-box, and 0 a transmission shaft, whilst d is the driven shaft which is connected with the gear for winding up the springv of the talking, machine through a worm gear d (Z and which corresponds to the spindle to which the winding handle is usually attached, all these parts being mounted on the usual supporting frame E of the e is a coupling member secured to the driven'shaft d, and f a coupling member secured to the transmission shaft 0 which is capable of sliding in a bearing c against the action of aspring g. ;A pinion (32 forming part of the gear interposed between the shaft 0 and the shaft of the electric motor is mounted on the shaft 0 in such a manner as torotate therewith' Thecoupling member 6 is provided with wide angled :teeth 6 oftriangular section, whilst the coupling member fis provided with corresponding recesses f in which the said teeth-engage.

- When the motor a is switched on, in the man:

ner hereinafter more particularlyreferred shaft d through the'int ermediary of the said coupling, thereby winding up the driving spring of the talking machine, until the same is nearly wound up, the resistance of the spring to its being further wound up being then so great that the coupling member 7" is forced together with the transmission shaft by the teeth 6 against the action of the spring 9, until the said teeth become disento the shaft (Z and thus rotates therewith, is

provided with a series of projections 6 (see Figures 1 and 2), one of which strikes against i a pawl h thereby causing it to strike in its turn against the end of a lever '21 pivoted at 2' and engaging in the link j of the train of links and bell crank levers j, 70, Z, m, n, which constitute the switching-mechanism. The link 92 is mounted so as to be capable of sliding in the plates E and E respectively secured to the bottom and top of the frame E and is provided with a pin a, by which it a is supported in a slot m provided in the bellther rotating.

crank lever m, the latter being pivotally sup-- ported by the plate E The striking of the lever 71 by the pawl it forces the link. j downwards and the latter causes in its turn the switch operating link Z to be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow Gr through the intermediary of the bell crank lever 70 and thereby operate the movable arm of the switch 0, so as to open the circuit of the electric motor, which is thus prevented from fur- VVhen the pawl thus operated byoneof the projections e in order to open the switch '0, its movement also acts on a pawl "h, so as to shiftit into a position in which it lies in the path of the projections 6 therebypreventing the clutching member e, and consequently also the shaft cl, from further rotating'under the actionof the-spring.

-The mechanism forautoniatically switching on the electric motorwhen the driving spring, has nearly run down will now be de scribed, Through the intermediary of a worm p and worm wh'eel p the shaft 1" is caused to perform one revolution duringv the running down of the spring to the predetermined point at which the: spring requires to be rewound, This can be ensured by the rotation of the worm wheel being made dependent onthe rotation of the spindle q on which the turntable is mounted, which dependence is ensured by both the worm 20 the spring motorthroughthe toothed wheels the pin 6 as to cause the switch to'be closed.

Withthe object of ensuring that the pin shall not interferewith the-reverse movement of the link a for the re-opening of the switch, the pin 25 is yieldingly mounted on the discs 5-, being arranged to engage in slots a formed in the discs and being preferably carried by two flat springs 41.

' The operation of this part of the apparatus is as follows During the rotation of the discs simultaneously with the rotation of the turn-table, the pin 2? which lies at the end u of the slots u approaches the abutting end 12 of the recess n formed in the link it and is gradually depressed by the said abutment against the action of the springs 6 towards the other end m of the slot; 'The further rotation of the discs causes the pin 25 to raise the link n and through the intermediary of the bell crank lever m shift the bar Z inthe direction indicated by'the arrow G until the switch'is operated to close the circuit of the electric motor, which now starts rewinding the spring in the manner hereinbefore described.

The various details of the form of construction hereinbefore given by way of eX- ample may be varied without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention.

- What I claim is r 1. In talking machines and other springdriven devices a driving spring, an electric motor for winding up the driving spring, an automatic electric switch for closing the circuitof the electric motorv when the driving spring is to be wound up and for opening it when the driving spring is wound up, a

member-capable of controlling the closing of placement inthe said transmission' under the action of the resistance offered by the spring to its being further wound upiwhen the same is nearly wound up; c

2. In talkingmachines and other spring 7 driven devices as. claimed in claim 1, means capable of automatically opening the electric;

- 3. In talking machines andother "springdriven devices as claimed 'in claim 1, means H capable of automatically locking thedriving spring practically immediatelyafter the latter has been disconnected'from'theelectric motor. I

4. In talking machines and other springdriven devices as claimed in claim 1, means capable of automatically opening the electric switch ofthe electric motor immediately upon the automatic disconnection between the electric motor and the driving spring and means capable of automatically locking the driving spring practically immediately after the latter has been disconnected from the electric motor.

5. In talking machines and other springdriven devices a driving spring, an electric motor for winding up the driving spring, an automatic electric switch for closing the circuit of the electric motor when the driving spring is to be wound up and for opening it when the driving spring is wound up, a member capable of controlling the closing of the switch in dependence upon the unwinding of the driving spring and a transmission between the driving spring and the electric motor, which transmission includes a clutching device capable of disconnecting the electric motor from the driving spring by a mechanical displacement in the said transmission under the action of the resistance oiiered by the spring to itsbeing further wound up when the same is nearly wound up, in combination with projections and a pivoted member, which projections are capable, immediately upon the release of the clutch, to act by the initial backward rotation of the driving spring on the pivoted member to cause the latter to operate the automatic electric switch and thereby open the circuit of the electric motor and with means for arresting the said backward rotation of the driving spring after its initial rotation. 6. In talking machines and other springdriven devices as claimed in claim 5, in which the said arresting means comprise a second pivoted member intended to be acted upon by" the first pivoted member in order to be brought'into the pathof the projections and lock the driving spring. I I

7 In talking machines and other spring driven devices as claimed iii-claim l, in

which the member capable of controlling the closing of the switch comprises discs having slots, a pin moving in the said slots and a spring supporting the said pin and in which a member intended to act on the switch is adapted to be operated by the said pin as and I for the purpose set forth. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. n NEVILLE GEORGE JOHNSON. 

